


Miss Missing You

by Ninja_Librarian



Series: Voltron Whump Week 2017 [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Day 7: Internal Injury/Head Injury, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance (Voltron) Whump, Lance is a dork who loves his friends and his friends love him, Mild Vomiting, No Season 3 Spoilers, Voltron Whump Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 07:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11846472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninja_Librarian/pseuds/Ninja_Librarian
Summary: Don’t panicNo not yetI know I’m the one you want to forgetCue all the love to leave my heartIt’s time for me to fall apartNow you’re goneBut I’ll be okayYour hot whiskey eyesHave fanned the flamesMaybe I’ll burn a little brighter tonightLet the fire breathe me back to lifeDay 7:Internal Damage and/orHead InjuryWhen Lance is sniping in battle, he always has his friends' backs. But who has his?





	Miss Missing You

Through his sights, Lance watched Shiro turn briefly, looking behind him to make sure that there were no more incoming drones, taking a few deep breaths at seeing the drones taken down with precise hits.

“Thanks, Lance.” Shiro said through the comms.

“What I’m here for,” Lance said, already turning the rifle onto the drones that Hunk was taking on, guarding Pidge’s back as the smaller Paladin used their bayard to take on drones, wrapping them up in the lasso of their bayard and shocking them before sending the deactivated drones into new ones.

From a distance, a drone took aim at Pidge. 

Lance pulled the trigger.

The drone fell.

He fell into a steady rhythm.

Find a target. Pull the trigger. Keep your eyes on the target long enough to make sure it doesn’t get back up. Repeat.

There is nothing else, there can be nothing else, until every last drone falls, until the victory belongs to Team Voltron.

The rhythm was cut off. Violently. There was no record scratch, no music fading into the background.

Lance was looking for his next target after a successful hit.

He didn’t even hear the sound of another gun firing, even though it was at close range.

Something collided with the back of his helmet.

He fell forward.

Blackness overwhelmed his vision.

*

The Galra lowered his blaster at watching the Blue Paladin crumple, a large black mark on the back of the white helmet.

“Commander,” He said into his communication device. “I think you’re going to like what I found…”

He sent a visual image of the prone Blue Paladin and heard the Commander suck in a breath.

“A Paladin of Voltron… Good work, Captain. Bring him to me immediately.” The Commander ordered. “And make sure he stays alive. He’s useless as a bargaining chip—or for information—dead.”

“Vrepit Sa,” The Captain said. He gestured for the drones to grab the Paladin. However, he hadn’t counted on the Paladin’s eyes to open and to bring his bayard into his hand, raising it shakily to shoot at the drone. The drone, however, responded first, striking the Paladin across the face with the butt of its rifle.

The Paladin, however, rolled with the hit, trying to get to his feet.

The Captain snarled.

He couldn’t have that.

He raised his own rifle again, aiming for the Paladin’s chest. The Paladin fell backwards with the blow, grimacing as he reached up to put his hand where the bolt had hit.

The Captain kicked him in the stomach before he could get up, pressing his boot into the Paladin’s exposed abdomen, digging in the spikes that covered his boots. He knelt down, putting all his weight on his foot, before wrapping his large hand around the Paladin’s helmet.

He grinned as he watched through his fingers as the Paladin’s blue eyes widened with fear as he lifted the Paladin’s head…

And roughly forced the Paladin’s head back onto the rooftop, the eyes rolling backwards before closing.

All the while, a tinny voice echoed through the helmet’s comms system. “Lance? Lance, what’s going on? We need you…”

The Captain stood up, then slung the Paladin over his shoulder.

It did not matter what the other Paladins did.

He had taken away their chances of forming Voltron

*

Shiro grimaced as he peered around the barricade. Those drones were closer and closer on them. Where was Lance? Why had he stopped shooting?

“Lance, we could use some cover fire,” He said into his comms. “Where are you?”

Lance was always uncharacteristically quiet when he sniped, a combination of needing to stay quiet so as to not be exposed and a really intense focus on what he was doing.

But this… This was too quiet. Something was wrong. Shiro could feel it in his gut that something was wrong.

He heard Pidge gasp through his helmet.

“LANCE!” They yelled.

Shiro hated when his gut was right.

“Pidge, what’s going on?” He demanded.

“Where’s Lance and why isn’t he responding?” Hunk asked, sounding frantic.

“A Galra has him, he’s unconscious… Shiro, he’s bleeding, I see blood,” Pidge said. “We’ve got to get him back.”

Shiro grimaced.

“Hunk, help me get these drones. Keith, Pidge, do whatever you can to slow that Galra down, we’ll cover you.” He ordered.

*

“Roger that,” Keith said, glowering at the Galra. “Pidge, think you can lasso the Galra from this angle?”

“Can do,” Pidge said, already taking aim.

“Just don’t use the bayard’s electricity, or you could hurt Lance.” Keith added quickly.

Pidge nodded before firing. The bayard wrapped around the Galra’s waist, causing him to pause and look over his shoulder, snarling as he started to run. Pidge tried to dig in their feet, but the Galra was bigger and stronger than they were. They were getting dragged along, and he was making more distance. But more importantly he was dragging them through a battlefield and the only way Pidge could protect themself was to let go of the bayard.

Shiro caught this out of the corner of his eye, slicing through drones on his way towards Pidge, practically throwing himself onto them to try and use his weight to slow down the Galra.

It didn’t slow the Galra down, but it distracted him long enough that he didn’t see Keith flying at him. Keith mentally apologized to Lance as the unconscious Blue Paladin tumbled to the ground along with the Galra, rolling away from both Galra and Red Paladin. Pidge used that moment to activate the bayard and the Galra screamed as he was electrocuted, giving Keith plenty of time to get to Lance’s side.

“Keith, how does he look?” Hunk yelled, still stopping drones.

“Pretty bad,” Keith admitted, cataloguing all the places that Lance was bleeding and hating that Lance’s pulse was weak. He didn’t like the black marks on Lance’s armor. As for internal injuries… He didn’t want to think about that. “Lance, come on, wake up!”

Lance didn’t respond. Keith carefully scooped Lance up, holding him protectively. “Allura, Coran, we need an extraction now!”

“I’m going to try to get a pod down there and get Lance back to the Castle,” Coran said. “I just have to find a clear space for it.”

“Keith, get Lance to Coran, we can hold things down here.” Shiro said. “We’ll cover you.”

Keith didn’t respond, just looked for an opening and ran.

Later, after passing Lance into Coran’s arms, when Keith was running back towards the battle, he noticed something.

Though Lance’s weight had left his arms, a new weight of dread and concern filled his gut and heart.

He spared one quick glance over his shoulder, watching as Coran piloted the pod back towards the Castle. “You better not die on us, Lance,” Keith mumbled. “Or I’ll kick your ass.”

*

Bright lights. Blindingly bright. His head hurt. His stomach hurt. His chest hurt. His ears were ringing. Everything smelled too sharp.

He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Lance? Lance, are you awake? Come on, my boy, answer me now.”

Lance reluctantly opened his eyes to see two blurry faces above his, both with orange mustaches. Or what he thought was mustaches.

“Cor… an?” Lance mumbled, slurring the name. Why was there two of Coran? Or were there two of Coran all along? Actually, the latter idea made sense… Dude was everywhere…

How’d he get here, though? What was going on?

Space. Castle. Blue Lion. Voltron.

Galra.

His eyes widened and he jerked upright.

His friends, where were they? He was laying down sniper fire for them…

Horrible images ran through his head, each one worse than the last, making him scream and fight as Coran pinned him back to the exam table.

Tiny Pidge, laying on the ground, broken and crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.

Shiro being tortured as punishment for escaping.

Hunk slumped over the Yellow Lion’s controls, blood dripping onto the cockpit floor.

Keith strapped to a table, the new toy of the Witch Haggar, cut open and his newly discovered Galra heritage being thoroughly and painfully explored and exploited.

A gun to Allura’s head.

“Coran, I have to help them!” Lance managed to find a way to make the words form, to make them fall out of his mouth.

Based on the taste at the back of his throat, words weren’t the only thing about to fall out of his mouth.

Fortunately, Coran was quicker than most people and Lance retched into the bowl, heaving through his tears and the pain.

“The other Paladins have finished the battle about half a varga ago,” Coran said. “They’re fine. They’re safe. And in quite better shape than you are, lad.”

Lance’s response was to continue to vomit into the bowl.

Coran gently pat Lance on the back as he threw up, but Coran’s hand slowed. When Lance stopped retching, he quickly moved the bowl away, bringing a cloth to Lance’s lips.

“Lay down, now, that’s it…” Coran said, helping ease Lance back onto the exam table. “Do you remember what happened?”

“No…” Lance groaned. He coughed, which made his chest and stomach hurt.

“It’s alright, just relax now. We’ll get you in a pod soon enough.” Coran said.

“Light’s too bright…” Lance said, reaching up with his hands to cover his closed eyes.

“I’ll dim them,” Coran said. Lance kept his eyes screwed shut, trying to block out everything, trying to ignore the pain. In the distance, Lance heard the sound of the doors opening.

“How is he?” Hunk’s voice. Worried and purposefully restraining his vocal volume.

Lance opened his eyes, turning his head slightly to see the other four Paladins enter, all still dressed in their armor. He breathed a sigh of relief at seeing them, even if they were a bit blurry and spinning slightly, giving them a small wave.

They were okay.

“In quite a bit of pain and void of all stomach content,” Coran answered honestly. “You three stick with him, try to ask him questions. Shiro, I need to speak with you for just a moment.”

“Hey, Lance.” Pidge said and Lance felt a gentle squeeze on his fingers. He looked up blearily at Pidge, Hunk and Keith, all hovering over him. “Anything we can get for you?”

Lance made a small noncommittal noise and squeezed Pidge’s hand.

“Make it go away…” He whispered, closing his eyes.

“Make what go away?” Hunk asked.

“Ev’rything…” Lance said.

“Are you talking about pain?” Hunk asked. “’Cause we can ask Coran if he’s already given you something for the pain.”

“You got really lucky, you know?” Keith said. “You took a blast to the head, apparently from close range. Your helmet took a lot of the blow. Your chest plate, too.”

“Is tha wha happen’d?” Lance asked. “Huh.”

“You don’t remember what happened?” Pidge asked with concern.

“No… Just ‘member we were fightin’ Galra… Kickin’ butt, takin’ names…” Lance said.

“Okay, you three, I need you to report to Allura now.” Shiro said. Lance’s hand was dropped and he heard the sound of shuffling and three soft ‘good-byes’ as the Yellow, Green and Red Paladins left the infirmary. Shiro’s presence soon replaced theirs as he started talking to Lance. “Hey, buddy, I know you’re feeling bad and you want to rest, and we’re going to let you rest, but we’ve got to get you in a healing pod first. Your stomach and chest are all banged up, just scratches and stuff, but we want to get you in the healing pod to avoid infection. It won’t do your concussion much good, but we need to get this other stuff treated. I know it’s going to hurt, and I know you’re going to come out of the pod feeling pretty much like you do now, but we’ve got to do this, okay?”

“’kay…” Lance mumbled.

“Okay,” Shiro said. “Coran and I are going to help you sit up, nice and slow.”

Lance braced himself as Coran’s hand gently cupped the back of his head and Shiro’s hand slid under Lance to rest on his lower back. However, he was barely upright when the feeling of nausea returned. He started gagging and Coran put the bowl underneath him again. Fortunately, Coran’s statement that Lance had already thrown up everything that had been in his stomach was correct. He coughed some, spitting out the excess saliva that was in his mouth.

His eyes widened when he saw bright red in the bowl.

“Lance, you okay?” Shiro asked gently.

“’m bleeding…” He mumbled. “Inside and out, aren’t I?”

Shiro took a deep breath and said, “Yeah. We didn’t want to scare you or the others. I’m sorry.”

Lance was quiet for a moment, then: “’kay…”

Coran and Shiro helped him change into the pod suit and Shiro carried Lance over to the pod as Coran finished programing it.

“We’ll be here when you wake up, I promise,” Shiro said as he placed Lance inside the pod. Lance gave Shiro a small smile as his eyes slid closed and the glass solidified over him.

*

Lance fell out of the pod with a raging headache, and was never happier to have his face pressed into one of Hunk’s hugs.

At least his stomach and chest no longer hurt.

He felt hands on him and heard low voices saying his name and things like ‘hey’ and ‘good morning’ and ‘glad to have you back’. Which was nice but would have been better if his ears weren’t ringing and he wasn’t dizzy. Hunk apparently caught that Lance’s knees were about to give out under him, and gently scooped Lance up.

“Hey, man, want something to eat?” Hunk asked. Lance blanched at the thought of food. Based on how his stomach currently felt, whatever was going to go in would quickly make a reappearance. “Okay, no food. You want us to take you to your room?”

No… He wanted his friends around. Just to make sure they really were okay, still unable to really shake the images his bruised brain had concocted.

“Lounge?” Lance suggested weakly.

“We can do that,” Allura said.

Hunk and Shiro did take Lance by his room to help Lance change into his pajamas, and Lance swore that he felt like, twenty percent better once his Blue Lion slippers were on his feet. Once Lance got to the lounge, Coran persuaded him into taking some Altean painkillers and a glass of water, as well as some ice-packs for his aching head.

“Lance, do you remember anything about what happened?” Keith asked as Lance slowly and carefully found a comfortable position, lying still and flat on his back, resting his head on one of the ice-packs, sighing in relief as the ice soothed the pain on the bump on the back of his skull. “How you got knocked out?”

“No,” Lance said as Pidge draped a blanket over him. “Just remember that there was a battle, then waking up in the infirmary.”

“That’s probably mostly because of the concussion,” Pidge said, taking a seat at Lance’s feet.

“We know enough that we need to make some sort of tactical change when it comes to battles in the future,” Shiro said.

“What do you mean?” Lance said, suddenly a bit more alert. Was Shiro saying he couldn’t snipe anymore?

“I mean, you got shot in the head, Lance.” Shiro said. “I can’t sugar-coat that. And I shouldn’t have tried to do it with your internal bleeding, either. You’d be dead if it wasn’t for your armor. You got snuck up on. That’s not your fault. But when you’re sniping, you always have our backs. We need to make sure that we have your back.”

“This may be the concussion talking, but I’m still confused.” Lance said, glancing around the room.

“What Shiro means is, in the future, we’d prefer for you to have someone guard your sniper’s nest.” Allura explained. “It will most likely be Coran or myself, but it could also be one of the other Paladins depending on the situation.

“You scared the quiznak out of us yesterday, man,” Hunk said, carefully adjusting the ice-pack on Lance’s forehead. “We just want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“We can talk about this more when you’re feeling better, Lance,” Shiro said. “Nothing’s set in stone yet. Right now, focus on resting up.”

“You should eat something soon if you think you can stomach it, and probably should eat even if you don’t think you can,” Coran said. “We’ll keep you hydrated in the meantime, and give you another dose of painkillers in about eight vargas. Oh, and you’re confined to bed—er, couch—for the rest of the day, and possibly tomorrow.”

“Gotcha,” Lance said, eyes drifting shut. He felt Pidge move off of the couch at his feet and Hunk do the same at his head and his eyes flew open, frantically reaching up to grab Hunk’s wrist, ignoring how bad he felt after moving so fast. “Wait!”

“Lance? Everything okay?” Keith asked, frowning with concern, looking over his shoulder as he was also preparing to leave the lounge.

Lance mumbled something, eyes suddenly downcast.

“What?” Hunk asked for clarification, moving in closer.

“I said don’t leave,” Lance said. “I don’t want you all to leave just yet…”

“We just figured you’d want to rest in some peace and quiet, that’s all,” Hunk said, gently easing Lance back down onto the couch. “You need to sleep.”

“I know… I just…” Lance took a deep breath. “When I woke up in the infirmary, I got scared because I didn’t know what happened. And I thought a gazillion bad things happened to you guys. And… I just want to know that you’re all okay.”

The moment of stunned silence that followed was quickly interrupted by Pidge, who folded their arms over their chest. “You big dork, we’ve been worrying about you—who is the one that is concussed, nearly got taken as a prisoner of war by the Galra, and just got out of a pod for internal bleeding—and this whole time you’ve been worried about us?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Lance admitted sheepishly.

“I have an idea,” Allura said. “How about we all stay until you fall asleep, Lance, and then we’ll take turns staying with you in case you wake up? Will that work?”

“Yeah,” Lance said again.

“You know, honestly,” Shiro said, sitting down again. “I think that’s the solution that’s going to make all of us feel better.”

Oddly enough, when Lance woke up again several vargas, his friends were all still in the room with him, each focused on their own task—Pidge working on their computer, Hunk fiddling with some sort of tech, Keith carefully cleaning grime off of his bayard, while Shiro, Allura and Coran were reading off of tablets. 

But they were all safe and sound.

Lance smiled softly as he fell back asleep.

Maybe the next time he woke up, his headache would be nearly gone, too.

**Author's Note:**

> This kind of ties into my story The Rival, but obviously you don't have to read that to read and enjoy this work.


End file.
